Computer processing system for realizing data upgrade and a data upgrading method

ABSTRACT

A computer processing system for implementing data upgrade includes a communication interface device, at least two application servers and a database server for storing data, wherein the communication interface device detects in real-time a connection state of the communication interface device and each of the application servers, and sends data received from external to an application server connected with itself for processing; all the application servers are connected with the database server to process data and store the processed data in the database server, the data upgrade is implemented in batch for the application servers requiring the data upgrade by disconnecting the application servers from the communication interface device and reestablishing the connection of the application servers with the communication interface device after the data upgrade is completed. During the data upgrade, upgrade may be implemented without shut-down of the system. Most importantly, all the servers available in the system always work at the same time and share the burden in switching, thus improving the working efficiency of the whole system.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This application is a 371 of PCT/CN2006/001084 filed on May 24, 2006,published on Nov. 30, 2006 under publication number WO2006/125392 whichclaims priority benefits from Chinese Patent Application Number200510072008.X filed May 24, 2005, the disclosure of which is herebyincorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Having high speed data processing capabilities and large storagecapacities, computers have been widely used in various fields ofproduction and living, such as communications, traffic and banking. Manycomputers need to be in a continuously working state to ensure normaloperation of the whole system. For example, once a switch server in atelecommunication department shuts down, many user terminals will not beable to communicate with one another. Once an information processingsystem of a bank card organization shuts down, a large number of cardholders and merchants will not be able to deal with the bank cardbusinesses, causing inconvenience to the users.

However, with the continuous development of the computer technologiesand the constant changes in the application environment, data upgradeneeds to be implemented for various servers within a computer system toadd new functions in a timely way.

A method for upgrading data in the prior art will be described on thebasis of specific hardware. Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown aschematic diagram illustrating the architecture of a prior art computerprocessing system, which includes a communication interface device 11, amain application server 12 and a standby server 13. The communicationinterface device 11 may be such a computer device as a router and aswitch, which is used to establish a secure connection between thecomputer system and an external device/external network/external system.The main application server 12 connects the communication interfacedevice 11 and the standby server 13.

The main purpose of such a redundant main-standby design is to ensurethe security of the system. Besides, the above computer processingsystem is also used to upgrade software of the application server in theprior art.

The method for upgrading data includes: upgrading the software on thestandby server 13; performing main-standby switching to put the standbyserver into a working state; upgrading the software of the mainapplication server 12; updating data of the main application server 12according to that of the standby server 13; and performing main-standbyswitching again to put the main application server 12 into a workingstate.

Although being able to implement upgrade without shut-down, this methodfor upgrading data has the following disadvantages.

First, the whole computer processing system usually includes a number ofapplication servers each provided with a standby server 13. All thestandby servers 13 are in a standby state and will actually work onlyupon software upgrade or a failure of the main application servers,causing great waste of the server resources.

In addition, the standby server 13 needs to be updated periodically toensure consistence of the data thereon with that on the applicationserver and thus occupies the CPU resources of the application serverperiodically to update the resources of the standby server 13, resultingin an increased processing burden on the application server.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An object of the invention is to provide a method for upgrading data anda computer processing system for implementing data upgrade, therebysolving the problem of great waste of server resources arising fromupgrading without shut-down using the main-standby architecture of acomputer processing system in the prior art.

To solve the above problem, the invention provides a computer processingsystem for implementing data upgrade, including a communicationinterface device, at least two application servers and a database serverfor storing data, wherein

the communication interface device is adapted to send data received fromexternal to an application server connected therewith for processing,and return a result of processing to an external device/externalnetwork; and

all the at least two application servers are connected with the databaseserver to process data and store the processed data in the databaseserver, wherein the data upgrade is implemented in batch for theapplication servers requiring the data upgrade by disconnecting theapplication servers from the communication interface device andreestablishing the connection of the application servers with thecommunication interface device after the data upgrade is completed.

Preferably, the communication interface device is also adapted to detectin real-time a connection state of the communication interface devicewith each of the at least two application servers, and implementcommunications with the application server according to the connectionstate.

The communication interface device is a number of communication serverseach connected with all the at least two application servers. Thecommunication interface device includes a switch, a hub or anothernetwork interface device.

The communication interface device includes at least a detection unitfor detecting in real-time a connection state of the communicationinterface device with each of the at least two application servers; anda load distribution unit connected with the detection unit, for sendingthe data received from external evenly to an application serverconnected therewith currently for processing, and returning a result ofprocessing by the system to a corresponding external device/externalnetwork.

The load distribution unit may be implemented by load equalizationsoftware or a load equalizer.

The invention further provides a computer processing system forimplementing data upgrade, including a communication interface device,at least two types of application servers and a database server forstoring data, wherein each of the at least two types of applicationservers includes at least two application servers, and

the communication interface device is adapted to determine the type ofdata received from external, send the data to an application server of atype corresponding to the type of the data for processing, and return aresult of processing to an external device/external network; and

all the application servers are connected with the database server toprocess data and store the processed data in the database server,wherein the data upgrade is implemented in batch for the applicationservers requiring the data upgrade by disconnecting the applicationservers from the communication interface device and reestablishing theconnection of the application servers with the communication interfacedevice after the data upgrade is completed, and during the data upgrade,at least one application server in each type of application servers isconnected with the communication interface device. The communicationinterface device includes a communication server, a switch, a hub oranother network interface device that has a function of loadequalization.

Preferably, the communication interface device is also adapted to detectin real-time a connection state of the communication interface devicewith each of the application servers.

The communication interface device includes at least a detection unitfor detecting in real-time a connection state of the communicationinterface device with each of the application servers; a typedetermination unit for determining the type of the data received fromexternal to determine the type of application servers for processing thedata; and a load distribution unit connected with the detection unit andthe type determination unit, for sending the data of the determined typeevenly to an application server of a type corresponding to the type ofthe data and connected therewith currently for processing, and returninga result of processing by the system to a corresponding externaldevice/external network.

The invention further provides a method for upgrading data in a computerprocessing system, the computer processing system including acommunication interface device, at least two application servers and adatabase server for storing data, wherein the communication interfacedevice is adapted to detect in real-time a connection state of thecommunication interface device with each of the at least two applicationservers, and according to the connection state, send data received fromexternal to an application server connected therewith currently forprocessing; and all the at least two application servers are connectedwith the database server to process data and store the processed data inthe database server, the method including: 1) batching the applicationservers requiring data upgrade; and 2) implementing the data upgrade foreach batch of application servers separately by disconnecting theapplication servers from the communication interface device, upgradingdata on the application servers, and reestablishing connection betweenthe batch of application servers and the communication interface device.

The method further includes: pre-establishing a connection state storingtable by the communication interface device for storing a connectionstate of the communication interface device with each of the at leasttwo application servers; each time the communication interface devicedetects a connection state of the communication interface device witheach of the at least two application servers, updating the connectionstate storing table; and before sending data received from external toan application server, accessing the connection state storing table bythe communication interface device to be aware of all the applicationservers connected therewith. The communication interface device sendsthe data received from external evenly to the application serversconnected therewith currently for processing.

The invention further provides a method for upgrading data in a computerprocessing system, the computer processing system including acommunication interface device, at least two types of applicationservers and a database server for storing data, wherein each of the atleast two types of application servers includes at least two applicationservers, and the communication interface device is adapted to determinethe type of data received from external, and send the data to anapplication server of a type corresponding to the type of the data forprocessing; and all the application servers are connected with thedatabase server to process data and store the processed data in thedatabase server, the method including:

1) batching the application servers requiring data upgrade such that ineach batch of application servers, there is at least one applicationserver in each type of application servers that is connected with thecommunication interface device; and

2) implementing data upgrade for each batch of application serversseparately by disconnecting the application servers from thecommunication interface device, upgrading data on the applicationservers, and reestablishing connection between the batch of applicationservers and the communication interface device.

The method further includes:

pre-establishing a connection state storing table by the communicationinterface device for storing a connection state of the communicationinterface device with each of the application servers;

each time the communication interface device detects a connection stateof the communication interface device with each of the applicationservers, updating the connection state storing table; and

before sending data received from external to an application server,accessing the connection state storing table by the communicationinterface device to be aware of an application server of the type andconnected therewith.

Compared with the prior art, the invention is advantageous in thatupgrade may be implemented without shut-down, and most importantly, allthe servers available in the system always work at the same time andshare the burden in switching, thus improving the working efficiency ofthe whole system.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating the architecture of a priorart computer processing system;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating the architecture of acomputer processing system according to the invention;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a method for upgrading data based onthe computer processing system as shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating the architecture of anothercomputer processing system according to the invention; and

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating the architecture of acomputer processing system in an example of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

The invention will be described in detail with reference to theaccompany drawings.

Referring to FIG. 2, there is shown a schematic diagram illustrating thearchitecture of a computer processing system for implementing dataupgrade according to the invention. The computer processing systemincludes a communication interface device 21, a number of applicationservers 22 and a database server 23 for storing data.

The communication interface device 21 is adapted to detect a connectionstate of the communication interface device 21 with each applicationserver 22, send data received from external to an application server 22connected therewith currently according to the connection state forprocessing and return a result of processing to an externaldevice/external network.

The communication interface device 21 is connected with all theapplication servers, and can send data received from external to anapplication server 22 connected therewith. In addition, the loadequalization technique, as a mature technique in the prior art, is usedin the invention, by which the communication interface device 21distributes the data received from external evenly to the applicationserver 22 connected therewith. The communication interface device 21 maybe split into a detection unit and a load distribution unit.

The detection unit is adapted to detect in real-time a connection stateof the communication interface device with each of the applicationservers.

The load distribution unit is connected to the detection unit, andadapted to send the data received from external evenly to an applicationserver connected therewith currently for processing, and return a resultof processing by the system to a corresponding external device/externalnetwork. The load distribution unit may be implemented by loadequalization software or a load equalizer.

The communication interface device 21 that includes a detection unit anda load distribution unit is just a preferred embodiment of theinvention. Those skilled in the art should understand that the functionof the communication interface device 21 may also be implemented by oneor more than two units, instead of only two units, and furtherdescription thereof will be omitted here.

Furthermore, the communication interface device 21 may be acommunication server, a switch, a hub or another network interfacedevice a function of load equalization.

All the application servers 22 are connected with the database server 23to process data and store the processed data in the database server 23.Upon data upgrade, the data upgrade is implemented in batch for theapplication servers 22 requiring the data upgrade: disconnecting theapplication servers 22 from the communication interface device 21 andreestablishing the connection of the application servers 22 with thecommunication interface device 21 after the data upgrade is completed.

Since the communication interface device 21 detects in real-time aconnection state of the communication interface device 21 with each ofthe application servers 22, when data upgrade needs to be implementedfor the application servers 22, the application servers 22 may bedisconnected from the communication interface device 21, and thecommunication interface device 21 can detect the disconnection of thecommunication interface device 21 from the application servers 22, andsend data received from external evenly to another application server 22still normally connected therewith for processing. After the dataupgrade is completed, the connection of the application servers 22 withthe communication interface device 21 is reestablished. Therefore, thecommunication interface device 21 can detect the connection of theapplication servers 22 with the communication interface device 21 againand thus send data received from external to the application servers 22.

For the purpose of upgrade without shut-down, it should be ensured forthe system that at any time, the application servers of the same typeare of no difference among one another and may be replaced with oneanother. In other words, data processable by an application server 22should be processable by other application servers 22 of the same type,and the results of processing should be completely identical. Only inthis way, the automatic load equalization can function properly duringoperation. To this end, after having processed the data, each of theapplication servers 22 does not keep any information for the processingat all, but stores such information in the database server 23 and turnsto process the following data. The previous data information associatedtherewith that is required in the processing of the following data maybe read directly from the database server 23.

Namely, during the process of data upgrade for all the applicationservers 22 in the system, the whole system may be upgraded withoutshut-down simply by implementing the data upgrade in batch. In addition,in the computer processing system for implementing data upgradeaccording to the invention, all the application servers 22 are in anormal working state, thus overcoming the problem in the prior art thatmany standby servers are standby in the system having a main-standbyarchitecture, and improving the data processing speed and dataprocessing capability of the whole system.

In addition to be applicable to data upgrade, the computer processingsystem according to the invention also has very high stability. When oneof the application servers 22 fails, waste of the server resources dueto the redundant design can be avoided simply by disconnecting theapplication server 22 from the communication interface device 21.

The invention further provides a method for upgrading data based on theabove computer processing system. Referring to FIG. 3, there is shown aflowchart of data upgrade according to the invention. The methodincludes the following steps.

S110: The application servers requiring upgrade are batched.

S120: The data upgrade is implemented for each batch of the applicationservers separately: the application servers are disconnected from thecommunication interface device, data on the application servers areupgraded, and the connection between the batch of application serversand the communication interface device is reestablished.

Since the communication interface device 21 detects in real-time aconnection state of the communication interface device 21 with each ofthe application servers 22, when data upgrade needs to be implementedfor the application servers 22, the application servers 22 may bedisconnected from the communication interface device 21, and thecommunication interface device 21 can detect the disconnection of thecommunication interface device 21 from the application servers 22. Thecommunication interface device may detect a connection state of thecommunication interface device 21 with each of the application serversthrough a PING command.

Moreover, the communication interface device 21 may pre-establish aconnection state storing table for storing a connection state of thecommunication interface device with each of the application servers 22.Each time detecting a connection state of the communication interfacedevice 21 with each of the application servers 22, the communicationinterface device 21 updates the connection state storing table. Beforesending data received from external to an application server 22, thecommunication interface device 21 accesses the connection state storingtable to be aware of all the application servers 22 connected therewith.

The solution that the communication interface device 21 detects inreal-time a connection state of the communication interface device 21with each of the application servers 22 and sends data according to theconnection state is just a preferred embodiment of the invention.Generally, the communication interface device 21 may send data receivedfrom external to the application servers 22 directly. When data upgradeneeds to be implemented for the application servers 22, the applicationservers 22 may be disconnected from the communication interface device21 or the communications therebetween may be broken, such that thecommunication interface device 21 can not send data to the applicationservers 22. That is to say, both of the above solutions can achieve theobject of the invention. In other words, the communication interfacedevice 21 mainly acts as a communication interface between thecommunication interface device 21 and the application servers 22, andthe real-time detection of the connection state therebetween is just anadditional function for a best effect.

During the process of data upgrade for all the application servers 22 inthe system, the whole system may be upgraded without shut-down simply byimplementing the data upgrade in batch. The term “in batch” means thatall the application servers requiring the data upgrade in the system arebatched into at least two batches. When a batch of application servers22 are disconnected from the communication interface device 21, theother batch of application servers 22 continue to process data. Afterthe data upgrade is completed for the first batch of application servers22, the connection between the first batch of application servers 22 andthe communication interface device 21 may be reestablished. Thus, thesecond batch of application servers 22 may be disconnected from thecommunication interface device 21, and the data upgrade may beimplemented for the second batch of application servers 22. After thedata upgrade is completed for the second batch of application servers22, the connection between the second batch of application servers 22and the communication interface device 21 may be reestablished. In thisway, the data upgrade can be implemented for the whole system. It is tobe noted that the application servers 22 requiring data upgrade in thesystem are not limited to be batched into two batches, but can bebatched into three or four batches, or the upgrade may be implementedfor the application servers 22 even one by one. The number of thebatches may be designed according to the data processing capability ofand the data to be processed by the system. Generally speaking, the morethe batches are, the less the influence on the data processingcapability of the whole system is.

In practice, the system may be provided with a number of applicationservers that process different types of data. Application servers thatprocess the same type of data are called the application servers of thesame type. Referring to FIG. 4, there is shown a schematic diagramillustrating the architecture of another computer processing system forimplementing data upgrade according to the invention. The computerprocessing system includes a communication interface device 21, a numberof application servers 22 and a database server 23 for storing data. Theapplication servers 22 include a first A type application server, asecond A type application server, . . . , a N-th A type applicationserver, . . . , a first N type application server, a second N typeapplication server, . . . , a N-th N type application server. Namely,the system has at least two application servers of the same type.

The communication interface device 21 is adapted to detect in real-timea connection state of the communication interface device 21 with each ofthe application servers. When receiving data from external, thecommunication interface device 21 determines the type of the data to beprocessed, then determines an application server in the applicationservers of the type, which is connected with the communication interfacedevice 21, and sends the data to the application server evenly.

For example, the system has two A type application servers and three Btype application servers, and all the five application servers areconnected with the communication interface device. In this case, eachtime receiving data, the communication interface device 21 determinesthe type of the data to be processed and distributes the data evenly toan application server of a corresponding type. If the data receivedneeds to be processed by a B type application server, the communicationinterface device sends the data to one of the B type applicationservers. Here the numbers of times that the communication interfacedevice sends data to the application servers are generally identical.When the application servers requiring data upgrade are batched duringthe data upgrade for the system, each batch should be taken into accountto ensure that there is at least one application server in each type ofapplication servers that is connected with the communication interfacedevice 21.

The communication interface device 21 may be a communication server, aswitch, a hub or another network interface device that has a function ofload equalization.

Furthermore, the communication interface device 21 includes at least

a detection unit for detecting in real-time a connection state of thecommunication interface device with each of the application servers;

a type determination unit for determining the type of the data receivedfrom external to determine the type of application servers forprocessing the data;

a load distribution unit connected to the detection unit and the typedetermination unit, for sending the data of the determined type evenlyto an application server of a corresponding type and connected therewithcurrently for processing, and returning a result of processing by thesystem to a corresponding external device/external network.

The application servers may be classified as required. If thecommunication interface device 21 is connected with three externalsystems. The system may be provided accordingly with three types ofapplication servers, and each type of application servers deals with acorresponding external system. In this way, when receiving data, thecommunication interface device 21 may determine the external system fromwhich the data comes and send the data to an application server in theapplication servers of a corresponding type for processing. In theinvention, the data of the type may be sent evenly to the applicationserver of the corresponding type using the load equalization technique.

Another method for upgrading data provided based on the above computerprocessing system is similar to the method illustrated in FIG. 3. Thedifferences from the method illustrating in FIG. 3 will be explained indetail below.

1. When the application servers 22 are batched, it should be ensuredthat upon data upgrade for each batch, there is at least one applicationserver in each type of application servers that is connected with thecommunication interface device 21.

2. A state storing table may also be established in this method. Thecommunication interface device pre-establishes a connection statestoring table for storing a connection state of the communicationinterface device with each of the at least two application servers.Storage in the state storing table may be implemented according to thetype of the application servers. For example, it may be stored that howmany application servers in the A type application servers are connectedwith the communication interface device currently. Then, each timedetecting a connection state of the communication interface device witheach of the at least two application servers, the communicationinterface device updates the connection state storing table. Beforesending data received from external to an application server, thecommunication interface device accesses the connection state storingtable to be aware of all the application servers of the type andconnected therewith, and sends the data to one of them for processing.

A computer processing system and a corresponding method for upgradingdata according to the invention will be further described with referenceto a specific example.

EXAMPLE

Referring to FIG. 5, there is shown a transaction system of a bank,which has a multi-server multi-layer application system architecture.

An external user (for the UNIONPAY, an agency having accessed to thenetwork) is the initiator of a transaction, which sends transaction datato the UNIONPAY transaction system over the UNIONPAY network forprocessing.

In the UNIONPAY transaction system, it is a communication server that isconnected to external. On the one hand, the transaction request datasent to the UNIONPAY transaction system by the external user is receivedand transferred to a following application server for processing by thecommunication server; and on the other hand, a result of transactionprocessing by the application server is also returned to the externaluser via the communication server.

What is run on the application server is a core traffic processing logicof the UNIONPAY transaction system, where the transaction request of theuser is implemented. In addition, the application server sendsinformation on each transaction to a following database server to storein a database.

The database server performs operations such as addition, modificationand query according to instructions from the application server.

In the UNIONPAY transaction system, specially developed transactionsoftware is configured on the communication server and applicationserver. As a result of the rapid growth of the UNIONPAY traffic and thecontinuous emergence of new services, such specially developedtransaction software needs to be updated or upgraded frequently. Herethe upgrade without shut-down referred to above means implementingupdate or upgrade of the transaction software while maintaining thecapability of continuously processing transaction requests of users.

To update or upgrade the software on an application server, working ofthe application server must be stopped. The key lies in how to maintainthe normal operation of the whole system when working of one or moreservers is stopped. The basic idea of implementing upgrade according tothe invention is that when working of a server is stopped, the work tobe handled by the application server will be transferred to anotherserver for handle, thereby ensuring that the operation of the wholesystem would not be broken down. Such an idea can be reflected inmethods of designing the architectures of the following systems.

1. Multi-Server Operation

There should be at least two working servers in each type of servers,such that when any one of the servers shuts down, another server alwaysexists for taking over its work.

There are four communication servers and four application severs workingat the same time in the UNIONPAY transaction system, which meets theabove requirement.

2. Automatic Load Equalization During Operation

The whole system should have a capability of distribute transactionloads according to the health of the servers. When working of a serveris stopped, the system should be able to respond in time to transfer thework to be handled by the application server to another server havingthe same function for handle.

In the UNIONPAY transaction system, because of the differences in theprocessing functions and methods of distributing transaction loadsbetween the communication servers and application servers, differentmethods are employed to implement the automatic load equalization forthe communication servers and application servers.

a) Each user system should be connected to at least two communicationservers of the UNIONPAY transaction system.

b) Normally, a user system should send transaction data evenly to thecommunication servers connected therewith.

c) Upon detecting disconnection from a communication server, the usersystem should send transaction data evenly to other communicationservers still connected therewith normally.

The above load distribution strategy actually makes it possible for theUNIONPAY transaction system to implement the automatic load equalizationat the user side of the communication servers.

The application severs receive the transaction requests from thecommunication servers and send the results of transactions to thecommunication servers. Here all the application servers andcommunication servers are designed to be connected with each other, i.e.any one of the communication servers is connected with all theapplication servers, and any one of the application servers is connectedwith all the communication servers,

Normally, each of the communication servers sends transaction requestsit receives evenly to all the four application servers, and each of theapplication servers also sends the results of the transactions ithandles evenly to those communication servers connected with the user.Upon detecting disconnection of a communication server from anapplication server, the communication server sends transaction requestsit receives evenly to other application servers still connectedtherewith. Upon detecting disconnection of an application server from acommunication server, the application server sends its transactionresponses evenly to other communication servers both still connectedtherewith and connected with the user.

In the UNIONPAY transaction system, only the function of loadequalization from the application servers to the communication serversis newly developed, and the function of automatic load equalizationincluded in an intermediate product for transaction (e.g. Tuxedosoftware from BEA System, Inc.) has been used for the function of loadequalization from the communication servers to the application servers.

For the purpose of upgrade without shut-down, it should be ensured forthe system that at any time, the application servers of the same typeare of no difference among one another and may be replaced with oneanother. In other words, data processable by an application server 22should be processable by other application servers 22 of the same type,and the results of processing should be completely identical. Only inthis way, the automatic load equalization can function properly duringoperation.

The design of the UNIONPAY transaction system follows a designing ideaof stateless procedures: after having processed a transaction request, aserver does not keep any information for the transaction at all, butstores such information in a database and turns to process the nexttransaction. The information for the previous transaction associatedtherewith that is required in the processing of the next transaction maybe read directly from the database. In this way, a transaction andanother transaction associated therewith can be processed on differentcommunication servers and application servers.

1. Upgrade of Communication Server

a1. All the four communication servers work normally before the upgrade.

a2. The UNIONPAY transaction system software on communication server 1is shut down. At this time, external users connected to communicationserver 1 would detect disconnection of the external users fromcommunication server 1, and send all transaction requests to othercommunication servers connected therewith normally.

a3. The UNIONPAY transaction system software on communication server 1is updated.

a4. The UNIONPAY transaction system software on communication server 1is started. A test is performed to ensure that the external usersconnected with communication server 1 can detect resuming of normalconnection between the external users and communication server 1. Theexternal users will distribute all transaction requests evenly to allthe communication servers.

a5. Other communication servers are updated by repeating steps a2-a4.

2. Upgrade of Application Server

b1. All the four application servers work normally before the upgrade.

b2. The UNIONPAY transaction system software on application server 1 isshut down. At this time, all the four communication servers would detectdisconnection of the communication servers from application server 1,and send all transaction requests to other application servers connectedtherewith normally for processing.

b3. The UNIONPAY transaction system software on application server 1 isupdated.

b4. The UNIONPAY transaction system software on application server 1 isstarted. At this time, all the communication servers would detectresuming of normal connection between the communication servers andapplication server 1 and thus distribute transaction requests evenly tothe four application servers for processing.

a5. Other application servers are updated by repeating steps b2-b4.

The present invention has been described with reference to severalspecific embodiments thereof, and however shall not be limited thereto.Any variations conceivable by those skilled in the art would come intothe scope of the present invention.

1. A computer processing system for implementing data upgrade toapplication servers, comprising a communication interface device, aplurality of application servers coupled to the communication interfacedevice, wherein the plurality of application servers are of the sametype such that the results of processing of data by any of the pluralityof application servers is identical; and a database server for storingdata, wherein the communication interface device is adapted to send datareceived from external to an application server connected therewith forprocessing, and return a result of processing to an externaldevice/external network; and all the plurality of application serversare connected with the database server to process data and store theprocessed data in the database server, wherein the data upgrade isimplemented in batch for particular application servers of the pluralityof application servers requiring the data upgrade by disconnecting theparticular application servers requiring the data upgrade from thecommunication interface device, maintaining connection of at least oneof the plurality of application servers during the upgrade andreestablishing the connection of the particular application servers withthe communication interface device after the data upgrade is completed.2. The computer processing system for implementing data upgradeaccording to claim 1, wherein the communication interface device is alsoadapted to detect in real-time a connection state of the communicationinterface device with each of the at least two application servers, andimplement communications with the application server according to theconnection state.
 3. The computer processing system for implementingdata upgrade according to claim 1, wherein the communication interfacedevice is a number of communication servers each connected with all theat least two application servers.
 4. The computer processing system forimplementing data upgrade according to claim 1, wherein thecommunication interface device comprises a switch, a hub or anothernetwork interface device.
 5. The computer processing system forimplementing data upgrade according to claim 2, wherein thecommunication interface device comprises at least a detection unit fordetecting in real-time a connection state of the communication interfacedevice with each of the at least two application servers; and a loaddistribution unit connected with the detection unit, for sending thedata received from external evenly to an application server connectedtherewith currently for processing, and returning a result of processingby the system to a corresponding external device/external network. 6.The computer processing system for implementing data upgrade accordingto claim 5, wherein the load distribution unit is implemented by loadequalization software or a load equalizer.
 7. The computer processingsystem for implementing data upgrade according to claim 2, wherein thecommunication interface device is a number of communication servers eachconnected with all the at least two application servers.
 8. The computerprocessing system for implementing data upgrade according to claim 2,wherein the communication interface device comprises a switch, a hub oranother network interface device.
 9. A computer processing system forimplementing data upgrade to application servers, comprising acommunication interface device, a plurality of at least two types ofapplication servers coupled to the communication interface device,wherein the plurality of application servers within each type are suchthat the results of processing of data by any of the plurality ofapplication servers within each type is identical; and a database serverfor storing data, wherein each of the plurality of at least two types ofapplication servers comprises at least two application servers, and thecommunication interface device is adapted to determine the type of datareceived from external, send the data to an application server of a typecorresponding to the type of the data for processing, and return aresult of processing to an external device/external network; and all theplurality application servers are connected with the database server toprocess data and store the processed data in the database server,wherein the data upgrade is implemented in batch for particularapplication servers of each type of the application servers requiringthe data upgrade by disconnecting the particular application serversfrom the communication interface device, maintaining connection of atleast one of the plurality of application servers of each type duringthe upgrade and reestablishing the connection of the particularapplication servers with the communication interface device after thedata upgrade is completed, and during the data upgrade, at least oneapplication server in each type of application servers is connected withthe communication interface device.
 10. The computer processing systemfor implementing data upgrade according to claim 9, wherein thecommunication interface device is also adapted to detect in real-time aconnection state of the communication interface device with each of theapplication servers.
 11. The computer processing system for implementingdata upgrade according to claim 9, wherein the communication interfacedevice comprises a communication server, a switch, a hub or anothernetwork interface device that has a function of load equalization. 12.The computer processing system for implementing data upgrade accordingto claim 10, wherein the communication interface device comprises atleast a detection unit for detecting in real-time a connection state ofthe communication interface device with each of the application servers;a type determination unit for determining the type of the data receivedfrom external to determine the type of application servers forprocessing the data; and a load distribution unit connected with thedetection unit and the type determination unit, for sending the data ofthe determined type evenly to an application server of a typecorresponding to the type of the data and connected therewith currentlyfor processing, and returning a result of processing by the system to acorresponding external device/external network.
 13. A method forupgrading data in a computer processing system, the computer processingsystem comprising a communication interface device, a plurality ofapplication servers coupled to the communication interface device,wherein the plurality of application servers are of the same type suchthat the results of processing of data by any of the plurality ofapplication servers is identical; and a database server for storingdata, wherein the communication interface device is adapted to detect inreal-time a connection state of the communication interface device witheach of the plurality of application servers, and according to theconnection state, send data received from external to an applicationserver connected therewith currently for processing; and all theplurality of application servers are connected with the database serverto process data and store the processed data in the database server, themethod comprising: 1) batching particular application servers requiringdata upgrade; and 2) implementing the data upgrade for each batch of theparticular application servers separately by disconnecting theapplication servers from the communication interface device, upgradingdata on the particular application servers, maintaining connection of atleast one of the plurality of application servers during the upgrade,and reestablishing connection between the batch of particularapplication servers and the communication interface device.
 14. Themethod for upgrading data according to claim 13, further comprising:pre-establishing a connection state storing table by the communicationinterface device for storing a connection state of the communicationinterface device with each of the at least two application servers; eachtime the communication interface device detects a connection state ofthe communication interface device with each of the at least twoapplication servers, updating the connection state storing table; andbefore sending data received from external to an application server,accessing the connection state storing table by the communicationinterface device to be aware of all the application servers connectedtherewith.
 15. The method for upgrading data according to claim 13,further comprising sending, by the communication interface device, thedata received from external evenly to the application servers connectedtherewith currently for processing.
 16. The method for upgrading dataaccording to claim 14, further comprising sending, by the communicationinterface device, the data received from external evenly to theapplication servers connected therewith currently for processing.
 17. Amethod for upgrading data in a computer processing system, the computerprocessing system comprising a plurality of at least two types ofapplication servers coupled to the communication interface device,wherein the plurality of application servers within each type are suchthat the results of processing of data by any of the plurality ofapplication servers within each type is identical; and a database serverfor storing data, wherein each of the at least two types of applicationservers comprises at least two application servers, and thecommunication interface device is adapted to determine the type of datareceived from external, and send the data to an application server of atype corresponding to the type of the data for processing; all theapplication servers are connected with the database server to processdata and store the processed data in the database server, the methodcomprising: 1) batching particular application servers requiring dataupgrade such that in each batch of particular application servers, thereis at least one application server in each type of application serversthat is connected with the communication interface device; and 2)implementing the data upgrade for each batch of the particularapplication servers separately by disconnecting the application serversfrom the communication interface device, upgrading data on theparticular application servers, maintaining connection of at least oneof the plurality of application servers during the upgrade, andreestablishing connection between the batch of particular applicationservers and the communication interface device.
 18. The method forupgrading data according to claim 17, further comprising:pre-establishing a connection state storing table by the communicationinterface device for storing a connection state of the communicationinterface device with each of the application servers; each time thecommunication interface device detects a connection state of thecommunication interface device with each of the application servers,updating the connection state storing table; and before sending datareceived from external to an application server, accessing theconnection state storing table by the communication interface device tobe aware of an application server of the type and connected therewith.